Mirror-Image Asymmetry, Chirality, and Suttree1

Abstract

Chirality is the property of the handedness of things. The first half of this paper looks at the science of chirality, and the second half at how it is manifested primarily in Suttree, one of Cormac McCarthy’s novels. Chirality and the interplay of symmetry and asymmetry is a transformative concept in nature, in human experience, and in the philosophies of deep-seeing writers. There is strong evidence confirming McCarthy’s interest in chirality, including archival notes on the subject that were eventually translated through his fiction. Understanding chirality in turn reveals new dimensions of scientific and philosophical meaning in McCarthy’s work, including his investigation of free will, chance, and determinism; his interest in narrative, consciousness, and evolutionary theory; and his search for a logos—a universal ordering principle in both the material and metaphysical worlds.